How to detect a string within an ArrayList with a for each loop?

Question

public String searchNumber(String name){ String result = "";

    for(Person search: person){
        if(search.getName().contains(name)){
            result += search.getNumber();
        }
        else{
            result = " number not known ";
        }
    }
    return result;

}

Looking for some advice here on how to fix this problem I am having. This is a method which I expect to use my getName method to see if the local instance (name) is within the ArrayList. However, I am only getting the latter result to display only, saying "number not known." My step-by-step process goes like this: I create an instance of Person (search), access the getName method, access the contains method since it is originally a String method, and then check to see if the local instance is within the arrayList. If my logic is incorrect, please correct me. Also, does accessing the person array prevent me from using a String type in my for-each loop, since it is a Person object? I tried do this with a String type, but could not continue further since I could not convert to a String within the for-each loop.

Answer 1

Here's a breakdown of your current code:

You consider every object in the person list. If that person's name matches the parameter, you get the number from it. Otherwise, you set result to the error message. Note that the otherwise clause is applied for EACH person, instead of at the end if NOBODY was found to have the same name. That is, even if you find the right person and assign result to their number, if the next person isn't correct then you overwrite result to the error message again.

To make sure the error message is only assigned once and only if NOBODY is found, you need to check whether that is true after going through everyone (since you can't know if nobody is found before checking everyone!). The trick now is to find some clause which is always true when nobody was found. But that can just be if result was never modified. That is, you can set result to the default value at declaration, then only modify it to a number if the right person was found. Also, I am assuming that only one person should be found and you don't want to actually concatenate the numbers together (which is what you are doing by using +=). That said, try this:

public String searchNumber(String name){
    for (Person search: person){
        if (search.getName().contains(name)){
            return search.getNumber();
        }
    }

    return " number not known ";
}